Behind Fences
by Aiko Isari
Summary: (Decode/Lost Evolution) The Vitium experiment is preparing to be shut down, after the loss of one of their workers. Then Nikolai starts getting strange messages online and dreaming of a mansion he'd never seen before. Perhaps the experiment is less over than he thinks it is.


_Warning for cursing, missing children, adult fear, and character death_

* * *

 **\- The Funeral -**

His father never dresses in black.

It's a common fact in Nikolai Petrov's mind that his father prefers soft blues and greys and that his idea of going out is to not wear a lab coat. It's a common, annoying fact that leads to a lot of days where his coworkers drag his father home to make him change into not-sweaters and khakis in this annoyingly polite Japanese way.

Nikolai has only seen his father wear black once or twice and each time, he has come home like a lopsided duck. His face turns the color of stale clay and he's slow to remove the tar-colored tie around his leg like a noose.

This time, he has work in his arms as he wanders in like it's a well-executed accident rather than this being his home, rolling onto the couch and dropping them on their splintered kitchen table. A homemaker mother would have a fit if they saw, especially as the papers and envelopes missed their mark by a solid foot. It would have been pitiful if his father hadn't looked like his very stomach had come out of his esophagus and ears.

He listened to his old man mutter in disjointed, low Russian, making out all of it and, to the continued clenching of his gut, making him uncomfortable. He had raised the boy in Russian, in knowing and being aware of it. He'd had to. But his father had forgotten that now, or maybe he couldn't bother to care, caught up in whispering about failure.

Nikolai crept away and went to his room. Suddenly, that early morning snack didn't sound too great. He quietly shut his bedroom door and turned his light back off. Then, with a low grumble, Niko went back to bed.

It wasn't like he didn't think whatever it was about was serious. Nothing got his serious dad into a tizzy, except him and his mother. And mom was very much at work.

Niko rolled his eyes at his ceiling. It was probably nothing. Or at least, it was nothing he could help. He curled into a ball on his bed. Outside, it began to pour.

* * *

Nikolai woke up at noon to the feeling of his phone vibrating like the housecat, who was conveniently curled up at his feet. He curled it tight in a pale hand, swinging his wrist back in forth in contemplation of throwing and shattering it against his wall. But that would likely wake up his father. He hoped the man was asleep. It was better than hearing him mutter about failure and fear again.

He slid the screen on and immediately a Digitter text popped up from Taiga, sent one hour ago.

 _Dude, did you see the news._

Nikolai fought down a grin and an eye roll at the same time. Taiga really had a flair for the dramatic. Not even a question mark. One sentence that told him absolutely nothing. So of course, he replied with a simple, _been asleep man._

A response came two minutes later. _Lazy ass._ Pause. _Someone died on your dad's shift last night._

Niko's blood ran cold. _How the hell do you know?_

 _It's on GIGO's message board. They already scheduled the funeral. Didn't he tell you?_

For a second time, Niko considered throwing his phone at his closet door. _Why would he tell me?_

Another pause. _Point. Sorry. Anyway, Nyanko Tamer sent it to me. They might have more info. I dunno._

 _Why would her being a top Tamer in a game mean she'd know?_

 _It was just a thought, dude. What's the matter?_

Niko chewed on his lower lip, imagining the hangdog look Taiga was probably wearing. _Sorry, just… dad woke me up this morning. Probably about that. He was really freaked out. Figured it was better to wait for it to blow over._

Silence. Of course.

Taiga's eventual response was _You need to work on this communication thing. It starts by being in the same room._

… _Shut up, man._

 _You always say that when I'm right._

Niko grumbled even though there was no one in the room. That was true.

His stomach made a popping sensation of discontent and he made to get up, leaving his phone on the bed. Before he could exit the room, however, the device gave one last buzz from Digitter. He turned to it and picked it up.

 _You have a message from a user not in your address book. Would you like to read it?_

What, was it a new fighter? A competitor asking for help? Niko briefly considered preening. After all, wouldn't that be nice after the shitstorm that was this early morning? An apprentice?

...He could almost see Nyanko Tamer's avatar laughing at him. Niko gave up and checked the message.

The username was one he had _never_ heard of before: Duality of Threes. Niko tried not to snort: it sounded like a teenager's first Youtube channel. Still, most users started off that way. It wasn't like he or Taiga had any better that they couldn't change. Stupid GIGO and its dumb fees over harmless things.

But that didn't matter now. The message did. It was pretty short too: could you help me?

Well, that was a brazen move to make to someone you had just met. Still, Niko's common sense went ignored as he asked, _with what? I don't fight much nowadays._

The response came faster than any normal human typing speed. I don't need you to fight. I need your help. They're going to end it.

End what? He made to press the send button when there was a knock at his door. He looked up, messages forgotten as his mother peered into the room.

"Your dad's up," she said, exhaustion weighing down her eyes. "He wants to talk over some lunch."

Niko scowled a little but his face softened at the sheepish expression framing her features. "How is he?"

"Better," Mom said gently. "Now that he's gotten a little rest."

Niko tried to feel happy, feel some relief. He was glad not to see that haunted face the second he came out of the room. But after all that buildup, everything felt anticlimactic. He let out a quiet huff.

"Guess he'll just have to tell us." He made himself get up and leave the room, even as his phone let out a very strange chime. He clenched it in his hand and forced the heavy block into his pocket.

Outside, his father nursed a cup of coffee, the mug steaming and stinking of dark caffeine. Yakov's grey eyes met his own, grave and weary. He thumbed the sugar packet by his free hand.

Niko watched his mother sit and didn't, legs suffering pins and needles. He also, for some reason, had the distinct urge to flee.

"One of my coworkers, Mikagura Kouya, suffered an accident last night. She was…" He took another swallow of coffee, eyes now darting away from either of them. "She was sucked into a wormhole. My position is likely to be reallocated in the coming months."

"You're being fired?!" Niko snapped in incredulity.

"No." His father took another sip, still avoiding his eyes. "They're going to shut down the project as it is, but know Kuga as I do, I doubt this is the last we will see of it. And I know it the best out of everyone, now. But for now, it is over. We may suffer some inconveniences. I would like to ask you to bear it."

And that, seemingly, was the end of it.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** I am back on this ship train! hooboy. And with a full-on fic with mostly them. Oh dear oh dear. This will keep me happy and out of Onix's hair. Maybe. Please read and review!

Challenges: digiotpweek day 4, Mega Prompts word prompt 251, three-sided box challenge, gameverse prompt winter, interseason prompt empty, season rewrite prompt -beds, novella masterclass prompt 3 (story/world list)


End file.
